Richard Smith — November 20, 2016 Follow @MeRichardsmith
Social media is a great way to gain followers, fan or even loyalists. However, logging into an account won’t make you popular unless the pitches are perfect and customers show trust on your products and services. This theory brings us to the tried and tested concept of social proof which is actually an easy approach towards identifying and leveraging customer feedback and behavior.
While this gives out an authentic perspective regarding the concerned business, proper ideas need to be implemented for using social proof in the best possible manner.
Important of Social Proof
As the name suggests, social proof is a conglomerate of indications which can help you infer, assume and devise strategies. While this is more of a psychological perspective, conformation is an important aspect of social proof. This idea suggests that if many people are heading towards the same direction, its ought to the right path.
A survey suggests that at least 63 percent of customers look up a specific brand or product before making the purchase. Therefore, social proof needs to be implemented along with every existing marketing strategy, if you are looking to build influence and trust over social platforms.
Let us talk about the 5 techniques which can help you make the best use of social proof, as a decisive marketing strategy:
#1. Keep Sharing Testimonials and Reviews
Reinforcing social proof isn’t hard if you choose to include customer reviews and associated testimonials into the mix. This approach typically targets the prospects who keep on visiting your landing page for offers, subscriptions and lucrative deals.
Photo sharing platforms like Instagram are best served by this approach. Brands can showcase their products as images while including specific client reviews along with each post. Be it a fitness industry or something associated with photography, Instagram offers a great marketing platform to each and every brand while targeting the visual senses of the customers.
Your Instagram presence or rather influence is actually determined by the way you transform a fitting review into an enticing image— clubbed with great filters and relevant hashtags.
When it comes to Facebook, the best way to include reviews and testimonials is by asking fans to post to the concerned page. You can always select ‘Allow Visitors to Review this Page’ via the Page options.
Last technique to passively pitch user reviews is by targeting the retargeted ads. When and where the visitors land on the given website, you must target them back with a specific cross-sell advert. These ads should include user reviews— helping you build better social proof, trust and even social influence.
Therefore, if you are looking to run these kind of retargeting advertisements, A/B testing the campaign is advisable— mainly to determine how adding these reviews can modulate the concerned ROI.
#2. Emphasize Numbers
Prospective clients are expected to look up your brand over the internet and this where number crunching becomes all the more important. Product and service-centric businesses need to keep up with the customer numbers as a higher count readily improves the social proof quotient.
This aspect needs to be taken care of by the app developers— especially the ones dealing in messaging applications. The sudden manifestation of messaging apps has lowered down the specifics and the developers have become all the more vigilant regarding the number of people using them. Be it WhatsApp web, kik messenger for PC or a host of other applications which can be used via emulators— app developers need to be wary of the number game and must track the customer count for each platform.
Keeping up with this strategy requires these app development firms to track every platform— starting from smartphones, tablets to personal computers. The idea here is to make every rendition visually appealing while offering certain perks— exclusive to each interface.
Better branding is actually necessary for building trust as it can readily influence the purchase decision by at least 81 percent— while attracting more customers.
#3. Pair up with the Influencers
Word of the mouth is important when it comes to your brand value. This is where having good terms with the influencers come in handy. These individuals can help amplify your social proof as reports suggest that at least 40 percent of purchases made by Twitter users have been influenced by a concerned celebrity— talking good about the brand.
You need to be on the lookout for bloggers or other influencers from the same industry who are willing to speak good about you without a massive fee. BuzzSumo is a great platform for identifying like-minded individuals and relevant influencers.
#4. Get Hold of Verified Badges
One way to build social proof is to avail verified badges for the concerned account. This feature can be activated over the likes of Twitter and Facebook— by furnishing a website, phone number, bio, photo and the existing email address.
Mostly a blue badge, this symbol verification is actually the epitome of trust for the existing audience and prospects.
#5. Highlight Customer Service Records
A bit of self-marketing is good— at least when you are looking to build trust. One of the best ways to self-promote yourself is by highlighting the customer perspectives over social media. This identifies your firm as one that is invested in customer care.
The first step towards realizing the same is by activating the ‘Message Now’ tab on the Facebook page. Be it a general advice or a grievance— customers can contact you at specific times and you must revert back at the earliest.
You can also opt for a specific support handle for your Twitter page. The best part about Twitter is that over this platform, businesses can readily migrate their public conversations to a more private space and personalize the problem solving aspect courtesy direct messages.
Bottom Line
Social proof isn’t something which is created, built or earned overnight. For gaining trust and influence, you need to put in efforts via actionable tactics— mentioned throughout the better part of this post. Once the insights are gathered and the audience is persuaded, the social media marketing campaign actually gets a massive boost.
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